5 Reason Your Website Needs Responsive Web Design

There’s no shortage of articles harping about the importance of responsive web design, and yet I still regularly come across non-responsive sites.

I know, it’s mind-blowing. The top influencers in SEO and web design have been urging people to switch to responsive web design since 2013. And yet…

So, if you—or someone you know—still don’t have a mobile friendly website, maybe this article is the push you need to make the switch.

1. Google loves responsive web design.
Yes, our SEO overlords say responsive web design is the way to go. It used to be that mobile friendly sites were preferred, but non-mobile sites were still okay. But now if your site isn’t mobile friendly, you’re actively hurting your rankings.
2. It improves user experience.
This is the main reason Google loves responsive websites. They’re all about providing the best user experience to searchers. Mobile search over took desktop searches last year, and the gap is continuing to widen. Not only that, but internet searches are much more complicated than they used to be. Someone may start their search on their smart phone, continue it on their desktop, and then finish the process on their tablet. If your site doesn’t look perfect (and perform perfectly) across all of these devices, you’re going to miss out on a potential customer.

3. Your website will be ready for the future.
Responsive web design adjusts to the screen it’s on. That means a site will look great on a desktop, an iPhone 5, and an iPhone 6+ (as well as all other smart phone and tablet screen sizes). You’ll also be prepared for all future screen sizes. So when it’s 2025 and the internet is being projected onto the insides of our eyelids, your website will still look amazing.

4. Social media means more mobile visitors.
If your business is on social media (and it should be), then your site definitely needs to be responsive. Facebook and Twitter ads, plus sharing your content across social media platforms means an increased number of visitors from social sites. And since most social media consumption happens on mobile devices, that means more mobile visitors for you. If you’re sending those users to a non-mobile responsive site, then your social media marketing efforts have all been for naught.
5. Responsive web design saves you time.
If your website isn’t responsive, you can always build a mobile site. But that means you need to stay on top of updating two sites, and you’ll need to manage two SEO campaigns. With one responsive site, you only need to manage one site and one campaign. Not to mention that you mobile site won’t be optimized for a tablet, or the ever-changing sizes of mobile screens. One responsive website will cover all your bases.